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You seem to be saying that low income and migrant kids aren't as intelligent.

No, I'm not saying that at all! I'm saying their situations are different. Family economics, family support/involvement of their kids' education are not the same as the average white, middle class kid.

My wife's school is a Magnet school (meaning specialized after school programs to draw minorities and lower-economic students) and a California Distinguished School (meaning, in a nutshell, academically strong and meeting state standards). Because her school exposes kids to new things that they are otherwise unable to experience, they flourish! My wife's class has historically gone to the local college's planetarium and then down to the LA Science Museum and the LA Museum of Natural History. Trips like this kick-start the students to excel in their studies. It's been proven time and time again at her school. And I'm talking poor kids, migrant kids, rich kids. Given the opportunity, it equals the field....it doesn't matter what the kid's background may be. I've worked with my wife's kids in the past (on science projects). I know the neighborhoods they live in because in my law enforcement duties, I'm there--much too often. These are bright kids! My complaint is the state is taking that opportunity away. In no way am I insulting anyone's intelligence, MSP, quite the contrary! I'm defending these kid's opportunity to learn and be motivated by experiencing something more than just the four walls of the classroom.

I will. I have a student in one of my classes this semester who didn't pass the prereq course for my class. How do I know this?

I failed them last semester in the prereq course. (le sigh) That was an awkard e-mail.

"Woke up at 9.55am. Soon as I woke up, I looked at Suzanne and she looked at me. I said, 'Did I tell you about the immune system?' Suzanne starting laughing, I said, 'it's amazing.' She said, 'Not now.'"

I had very few field trips, and nothing near as interesting as what you described, and I graduated first in my class. I had a comfortable upbringing, but nothing exceptional. My dad was a fisherman, and my mom worked at Sears for a long time, though she quit that years before I was born. I was the only one in my family to go to college. Perhaps if I had more field trips, I might have been inspired to do something greater, but maybe not. For most kids, a field trip will just be a chance to get out of school for a bit, and maybe some will look back and think that was a cool thing to have seen.

I think that during these economic conditions, it is important to consider how to get the most out of our education dollars. It might be cheaper to have someone from the museum or whatever to come to the school and give a presentation. That saves the expense of traveling, and the time it would take to get there. It also makes it easier to keep the attention of the children. On a field trip, kids are more likely to be horsing around and not paying attention. They do that sort of thing in class, but they are easier to monitor there.

I am curious as to how the state is able to control whether or not a school or a particular class can or cannot go on a field trip. Is it just a reduction of funds that is resulting in this? If so, then see my previous paragraph. Teachers and administrators should be finding ways to make their dollars go the farthest while helping the kids the most. If teachers feel that field trips are essential, then they should try and convince administrators and school board members to allocate money for such trips, and find ways to cut costs elsewhere.

I think it's time the other teachers on the boards jump in here an explain just how the feds have a choke hold on the money for state funding if they don't get their way for unreasonable goals (read:NCLB).

They also need to jump in and state that the feds need to go away and let the teachers do their work. They're competent, if not down right great. Let them do their work without harebrained interference from so-called administrators who have lost contact with reality when it comes to educating our kids. Leave 'em alone and they'll produce an army of brainiacs who will efficiently lead us into the future if given the chance.

Let's not send this wonderful thread on the musings of pre-teachers, beginning teachers, current "veterans," and former teachers to the pit of rancor. But there is some political nature to teaching.

As a state- or federally-run "business," there are certain things that schools and/or teachers must do, and some of that funding comes from what is at that particular school: makeup of student population (ethnicity, socioeconomic status, amount of special needs students, local community resorces, etc.). In order to keep that funding, things are required to go a certain way. If a teacher can fund on her/his own, and if that is legally allowed, that's one thing. But if you want the state/federal money, yous got's to do it right.

This leads to many frustrations. My school would be deemed at "high socioeconomic status," so we get little outside funding beyond what teachers and parents provide. It is a high school, so not many field trips for the older kids anymore ( ), but there sure is a lot of digging into one's own pockets. And much of this funding is tied to those lovely test results... but there can be a vicous circle: if you maintain levels, it's bad. If you do too well, you can lose some money, but if you go down, well, you all suck and we'll jsut take some toys away from you until you learn to do things the right way. Or, we'll simply come in and take over the school ourselves (that's the worst consequence).

There are simple solutions, as least as seen to those outside it, but the machinery moving all the parts doesn't make that as easy to do as it might appear. And education doesn't take too kindly to change. Even logical change.

Let's not send this wonderful thread on the musings of pre-teachers, beginning teachers, current "veterans," and former teachers to the pit of rancor. But there is some political nature to teaching.

As a state- or federally-run "business," there are certain things that schools and/or teachers must do, and some of that funding comes from what is at that particular school: makeup of student population (ethnicity, socioeconomic status, amount of special needs students, local community resorces, etc.). In order to keep that funding, things are required to go a certain way. If a teacher can fund on her/his own, and if that is legally allowed, that's one thing. But if you want the state/federal money, yous got's to do it right.

This leads to many frustrations. My school would be deemed at "high socioeconomic status," so we get little outside funding beyond what teachers and parents provide. It is a high school, so not many field trips for the older kids anymore ( ), but there sure is a lot of digging into one's own pockets. And much of this funding is tied to those lovely test results... but there can be a vicous circle: if you maintain levels, it's bad. If you do too well, you can lose some money, but if you go down, well, you all suck and we'll jsut take some toys away from you until you learn to do things the right way. Or, we'll simply come in and take over the school ourselves (that's the worst consequence).

There are simple solutions, as least as seen to those outside it, but the machinery moving all the parts doesn't make that as easy to do as it might appear. And education doesn't take too kindly to change. Even logical change.

I teach at a 16 year old, California Distinguished, National Blue Ribbon, Magnet public high school and after reading the previous posts, I am compelled to interject myself in this discussion. Our school's SES (socioeconomic status) is sooooo low that it is often saddening. Despite this status, our kids kick academic tail. Yet, does the state or district send us any funding to match the funding they pour (and i fought the urge to type "waste") on academically failing schools? Our funding per student is not even close to what schools with around half our API get. That scholastic financial support does not get where it should is no new thing. But let me assure you, "poor" schools are not guaranteed money based solely on that fact.

Our scores on the seemingly constant tests that the state and district send our way, our graduation and college admittance rates, our kids' and teachers' tenacity have gotten a medium sized school 10 minutes outside downtown LA national accolades. But field trips, new books, more computers? I guess a jedi craves not these things...

A note on the magnet program: it is designed not to weed out "weak" students, but to weed out "weak" parents. To get into the magnet program, parents have to start applying when their kids are in elementary school. The kids at our school have the key component for success: PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT. No factor guarantees anything, but if a kid has someone at home that keeps the ipod, internet, guitar hero, or whatever shut off until the homework is done correctly, then maybe that kid has a better chance at school than the one who text messaged away his or her future all night long while the parent was too busy to notice.

A note on the magnet program: it is designed not to weed out "weak" students, but to weed out "weak" parents. To get into the magnet program, parents have to start applying when their kids are in elementary school. The kids at our school have the key component for success: PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT. No factor guarantees anything, but if a kid has someone at home that keeps the ipod, internet, guitar hero, or whatever shut off until the homework is done correctly, then maybe that kid has a better chance at school than the one who text messaged away his or her future all night long while the parent was too busy to notice.

This is one of the best explanations of a Magnet school that I've ever heard! Excellent! In my awkward way, this is what I was getting at. Those kids who don't have the parental support at home still have a chance to be salvaged when they are exposed to other educationally stimulating things, such as field trips, as teacher or other mentors can step up and encourage them to succeed. Parents (especially parents), teachers, or mentors are the key to a child's success!

"California Distinguished School" means nothing. All they have to do is get their act together when they're visited, fudge the statistics, and lie on the paperwork. Mrs Chux's school is a California Distinguished School, and it's gotta be the biggest POS school I've ever seen.